The Braves are six years into a bad 20-year local-TV contract that might put the team at a competitive disadvantage as other major league teams sign significantly more lucrative deals that increase revenues and enable larger payrolls

However, Braves CEO Terry McGuirk said he's not worried because the organization is positioned to stay competitive by enhancing other revenues and maintaining a strong minor league system that's produced a steady infusion of young talent such as current Braves Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, Andrelton Simmons, Kris Medlen and Mike Minor.

The Braves also have an advantage over most teams in that their ballpark was constructed for the 1996 Olympics and paid for by private entities including Olympic sponsors.

"We pride ourselves in understanding our business long-term, and we've seen exactly where we are," McGuirk said over lunch at a Midtown pizzeria this week. "We saw it coming years ago. The marketplace does change, but it's not change we don't know or understand or actually predict. We really made our zigging and zagging long ago, to get positioned correctly the way we are today.